


from across the room

by TheTinyTortoise



Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-13 22:17:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14122014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTinyTortoise/pseuds/TheTinyTortoise
Summary: Magnus has heard whispers about the Lightwood girl’s daemon-a jaguar with fur as lustrous as the girl’s long hair-but he thinks the gossip mill has got it all wrong. The older Lightwood boy is the one with the stunning daemon





	from across the room

Alexander Lightwood has one of the most beautiful daemons Magnus has ever seen.

The Lightwoods tend to be annoyingly pretty, and their daemons are no exception. Frankly, the beauty of Benedict Lightwood’s asp had been the man’s only redeeming feature, and Melati had always admired Anna Lightwood’s handsome tuxedo cat. Magnus has heard whispers about the Lightwood girl’s daemon-a jaguar with fur as lustrous as the girl’s long hair-but he thinks the gossip mill has got it all wrong. The older Lightwood boy is the one with the stunning daemon.

It’s anything but uncommon for Shadowhunters to have eagle daemons, but Magnus has never seen one quite like Alexander’s. His eagle's feathers are an inky black along her back and wings, gleaming bluish in the low light. Her chest and belly are snowy white, and there are gray dapples along her throat. Her eyes shine like flat golden coins. And she’s simply enormous-she dwarfs any other avian daemon Magnus has seen in at least a century. She’s beautiful, but dangerous, too-he has no doubt that those sharp talons and hooked beak have ripped into plenty of profane thing in her time.

And, he realizes after several minutes of careful observation, she is not a she after all. The very male Alexander Lightwood has a male daemon.

Isn’t that interesting?

Melati ceases swanning around the room and admiring the way the strobe lights glint off of her scales long enough to drape herself across Magnus’ shoulders. Her tail loops loosely around his throat, tapping idly against his collarbone. 

“His name is Yehonathan,” she murmurs over the thump of the bass, nodding towards the eagle daemon.

Magnus snorts. What a very Shadowhunter name. He’s tempted to dismiss the pair right then and there, but his eyes just keep drifting right back. It’s not lust that draws them there-though Alexander is almost exactly his type-but curiosity. You can tell everything you need to know about a man from his daemon, and Yehonathan has plenty to say.

Rather than sitting proud like such a strong, beautiful creature should, Yehonathan is hunched over, wings wrapped around himself protectively. His claws are wrapped around Alexander’s shoulder in a vicelike grip. Magnus can tell immediately what is wrong. Yehonathan’s trying to make himself smaller, uglier, weaker, and it’s just tragic. It’s like a wolf trying to be a Shih Tzu. Somehow, they’ve convinced themselves that they’re everything that they’re not, and it’s starting to show.

Magnus wants to fix it.

“You’re staring,” Melati sing-songs, tapping at his cheek with a claw. 

“So are you,” Magnus shoot back. He strokes a finger down her scaled spine. “They’re beautiful.”

“They’re Shadowhunters,” Melati retorts. “You’ve tried to fix Shadowhunters before. It never leads to anything good. Especially not when they’re pretty.”

“I wonder what they’re hiding,” Magnus muses, ignoring her irritable noise of frustration.

Alexander seems to feel Magnus’ pensive stare, and their gazes meet through the throng of drunken dancers. His eyes are shockingly blue, and they widen as Alexander realizes he’s being stared at. He blushes so brightly Magnus can see it even through the darkness, and Yehonathan makes an endearing squawking noise that can be heard all the way across the room.

“They just had to be cute,” Melati mumbles, digging her claws into Magnus’’ shoulder. “We’re doomed.”

Magnus feels his lips twist in a smirk. “So you admit you like them too.”

Melati sniffs primly. “I have eyes, that’s all.”

Something red flashes through the crowd, and her pointed head snaps around. “Magnus,” she says sharply, all urgency. “Was that Clary?”

“Out this late? I think not,” Magnus dismisses. “Jocelyn would have a coronary.”

“No one else in this city has hair that red,” Melati says. “Look! That’s Harael!”

Magnus looks, and sure enough, he sees a fiery head bobbing urgently through the crowd, a cardinal perched on her shoulder. “Well, that’s not good,” he says mildly. 

“She shouldn’t be here,” Melati worries.

“Jocelyn can’t protect her forever.”

Melati nips at his ear with her sharp teeth. “And you want her to find out here?” She snaps. “Magnus, do something-“

“Too late,” Magnus says, watching Jace Lightwood stream through the crowd with his hair glowing like a golden halo, his daemon an ivory wolf at his heels. Alexander follows him like a dark shadow, still glancing nervously Magnus’ way. They trail after Clary, heading to the back of the club.

“Shadowhunters,” Melati curses. 

“She is a Shadowhunter,” Magnus counters. “They’re her kind.”

“The Shadowhunters aren’t always nice to their own kind,” Melati points out.

Magnus sighs. “Melati. I know. But we can’t get involved. It would cause more problems than it would fix.”

She growls, claws digging into his shoulder. But she doesn’t argue.

Magnus watches the Shadowhunters vanish into the back, making a mental note to hire someone to clean up the blood later. Alexander glances back over his shoulder one more time before he disappears, a slight frown on his face. He really does have the most beautiful blue eyes, Magnus thinks.

“We’ll be seeing them again,” Melati muses.

Magnus can’t deny he’s looking forward to it.

**Author's Note:**

> Magnus’ daemon, Melati, is a miniature Chinese dragon. She’s about the size of a ferret, and is green and gold.  
> Fun fact: she and Magnus have the same eyes
> 
> Yehonathan, Alec’s daemon, is a martial eagle. He looks something like this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Martial_eagle_%28Polemaetus_bellicosus%29_juvenile_%2813816501623%29.jpg/220px-Martial_eagle_%28Polemaetus_bellicosus%29_juvenile_%2813816501623%29.jpg


End file.
